Landscape Effects on Decomposition
- 1 USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA
- 2 Department of Biology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Abstract
The average annual rainfall was close to the average for the Jornada Experimental Range basin (225 mm ∙ y − 1 ). Decomposition of leaf litter bags on the soil surface was a function of the rainfall at the site and of soil texture. Sites with the highest splash erosion and infiltration (highest sand content) had the highest decomposition rates. There was no evidence that run-off, run-on processes had an effect on the decomposition of surface litter. Root decomposition was only different at one of the tarbush sites (p > 0.001) and that difference was primarily due to soil texture and spatial distribution of rainfall. High concentration of the clay-silt fraction resulted in differences in mass loss of surface litter at grassland, dry-lakes, and tarbush sites. One site at each of these was different from the other two sites because they are between 8 and 20 km from the other two sites.
- Meentmeyer, V. (1978) Macroclimate and Lignin Control of Decomposition Rates. Ecology, 59, 465-472. https://doi.org/10.2307/1936576
- Whitford, W.G., Meentemeyer, V., Seastedt, T.R., Cromack Jr., K., Crossley Jr., D.A., Santos, P., Todd, R.L. and Waide, J.B. (1978) Exceptions to the AET Model: Deserts and Clear-Cut Forest. Ecology, 62, 275-277. https://doi.org/10.2307/1936687
- Vanderbilt, K.L., White, C.S. and Hopkins, O. (2008) Above-Ground Decomposition in Arid Environments: Results of a Long-Term Study in Central New Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments, 72, 696-709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.10.010
- Whitford, W.G., Steinberger, Y., MacKay, W., Parker, L.W., Freckman, D., Wallwork, J.A. and Weems, D. (1986) Rainfall and Decomposition in the Chihuahuan Desert. Oecologia, 68, 512-515. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378764
- Steinberger, Y. and Whitford, W.G. (1988) Decomposition Process in the Negev Ecosystem. Oecologia, 75, 61-66. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378814
- Whitford, W.G. and Duval, D. (2019) Ecology of Desert Systems. 2nd Edition, Elsevier Publishing, Academic Press, Oxford.
- Cepeda-Pizzaro, J.G. and Whitford, W.G. (1990) Decomposition Patterns of Surface Leaf Litter of Six Plant Species along a Chihuahuan Desert Watershed. The American Midland Naturalist, 123, 319-330. https://doi.org/10.2307/2426560
- Mun, H.T. and Whitford, W.G. (1998) Changes in Mass and Chemistry of Plant Roots during Long-Term Decomposition on a Chihuahuan Desert Watershed. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 26, 16-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003740050336
- Whitford, W.G., Stinnett, K. and Anderson, J. (1988) Decomposition of Roots in a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem. Oecologia (Berlin), 75, 8-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378807
- Whitford, W.G. and Herrick, J.E. (1995) Maintaining Soil Processes for Plant Productivity and Community Dynamics. US EPA Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory.
- Kemp, P.R., Reynolds, J.F., Virginia, R.A. and Whitford, W.G. (2003) Decomposition of Leaf and Root Litter of Chihuahuan Desert Shrubs: Effects of Three Years of Summer Drought. Journal of Arid Environments, 53, 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1006/jare.2002.1025
- Luo, Y., Zhao, X., Li, Y., Zuo, X., Lian, J. and Wang, T. (2016) Root Decomposition of Artemesia halodendron and Its Effect on Soil Nitrogen and Soil Organic Carbon in the Horquin Sandy Land, Northeastern China. Ecological Research, 31, 535-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-016-1362-y